Green Party Dublin West representative, Roderic O’Gorman has called on Fingal County Council to include an Implementation Strategy as part of the new County Development Plan.

“While we warmly welcome much of the content of the Draft Plan, one area where is falls down significantly is the lack of a clear plan to monitor implementation. Under S. 15 of the Planning & Development Act, 2000 and the related guidelines, there is a duty on the Local Authority to secure the objectives of the Development Plan. It is stated that that policies and objectives must be capable of implementation and it must be possible to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness or otherwise of achieving stated aims”, stated Roderic O’Gorman.

“Regrettably, the Draft Development Plan does not set out in detail any measures which will allow substantial monitoring of its implementation. This means that it will be extremely difficult to judge the success of Fingal County Council in achieving the goals set out in the Draft Development Plan. What good is a plan if we cannot measure whether it has been put in place or not”?

“In light of this, I have called for the insertion of an Implementation Chapter, setting out clear targets in each of the areas that the Draft Plan covers. This will both allow a proper evaluation of the success or otherwise of the Council in putting the Development Plan into effect, but it will also meet the requirements of the legislation and statutory guidelines”.

“I hope both the councillors and the County Manager take account of this common sense suggestion”, concluded Roderic O’Gorman.